God's Purpose!

For Wednesday, July 15, 2026:

John 16:2 NLT, Jesus speaking to believers: “You will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.”

In religion, things can get twisted around in unbelievable ways. In this case, those who know the Lord and exalt Jesus are thrown out of the worship center by others who think they know better. They do not! Those on the Jesus team will be killed (martyred) by the misled, who think they’re doing the Lord’s work. They are not!

Let’s use Paul as an example. He was loyal to the law of Moses, trained as a Rabbi, and sought to quash these renegade Jesus worshipers. He asked for a letter from the high priest to capture these Jesus-subversives and deliver them to Jerusalem in chains, or even kill them if chains didn’t work out. But Jesus personally tapped Paul on the shoulder on the road to Damascus. Paul was struck blind until he yielded to Christian baptism! He did a 180º, and became one of Christianity’s biggest supporters!

At the time, Pharisees were the religious elite. But they plotted the killing of Jesus by repeatedly lying. Lying is wrong, but plotting murder is even worse! Power and money kept them from accepting Jesus as the Son of God. They arranged Jesus’ crucifixion, and in a turn of events, Jesus took the sins of the world to the place of the dead, leaving mankind forgiven and able to reconcile with the Father. God used their evil ways for a holy purpose!

I’ve said before that God always wins! He can flip a hopeless situation and use it for his purpose. Jesus, who the Pharisees wanted to kill, is now seated at the right hand of the Father. It seems to be working out for him! And everything is also working out for Jesus’ followers, true believers and disciples like you and me!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

The Father’s House

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Truth & Freedom Church

P.S. It’s National Hot Dog Day, in case you’re a little short on nitrites and sodium!

One of the Twelve

May 12, 2014 Monday Message:

2000 years ago, most Rabbis had some disciples, thereby training the next generation of religious teachers. They would instruct 1 or 2 people at a time, with 3 - 4 being the practical limit. No individual Rabbi had more than a half dozen disciples.

But Jesus called 12 disciples, way more than was customary. It’s as if he wanted to make a splash!

If you understand that Jesus is truth, then it all makes sense. Hearing truth right from God’s mouth holds a supernatural attraction for those of us in search of answers to first-order questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose?

When studying Jesus, we need to remember that the congregation of believers numbers way more than just the 12. In Luke 10, Jesus sent 72 other disciples, 2 by 2, as an advance team, to the towns he intended to visit. The word “other” tells me that those sent are in addition to the 12. And the Bible is only counting male-heads-of-household. But many of these people were married and had kids. And some undocumented followers were single women. It would be fair to estimate that a short while after his ministry launch, there were hundreds of people following Jesus most of the time.

By Palm Sunday, the number had increased. By now, ALL of Jerusalem had heard of Jesus - the healings, the miracles, and his claims to be the Son of God. In front of Him, they laid colorful cloth and palm branches, decorating the road for his Triumphal Entry, shouting, “Save us; save us now!” They knew that only God could truly save them.

Nowadays, the number of disciples following Jesus seems to have increased. The number in His circle now stands at over 2 billion. If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of them.

Norton Lawellin

Let’s worship together! This week I’ll open Acts 3 – Peter heals a crippled beggar – Miracles in Jesus’ name are still possible AFTER the crucifixion! Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF) meets every Sunday, at 10:30am, in the North end (gym) of the Oliver Ministry Building, 2647 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis.